Hot or Not: The Kindle Report

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Hot or Not: The Kindle Report

POSTED: Thursday, March 19, 2009, 4:58 PM

Filed Under: Arts Books

kirstenharper.com

In our just-out-today Spring Book Quarterly, Jakob Dorof profiles a cross-section of Philly's indie bookstores, asking their owners tough questions about big-box competition and economic turndown.

"When Philly fixture Robin's Book Store announced it was ending its 73-year run last November," Dorof's intro says, "it was only another sign of the times: More than a decade deep into Amazon, Borders and Barnes & Noble's ravenous gangbang of all things mom-and-pop, local bookstores are now staring down the barrel of Depression 2.0."

The good news is that most remaining local bookstores (Dorof talked to Brickbat, Giovanni's Room, Joseph Fox and many others) seem to be weathering the storm ' their owners are enthusiastic about the prospect of adapting, many of them adding author events and other draws to get people in the door.

Which got us thinking: If one-click Amazon shopping and lighter wallets can't deter folks from staying loyal to their favorite local bookseller, can the Kindle?

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amazon.com/kindle

the 2.0: lighter than a paperback, thinner than a magazine, shorter than a pencil

For me, books are sentimental: I can't imagine a world in which we replace curling up on the couch with a good book with curling up on the couch with a good electronic device. There's something about holding, flipping through, finishing and shelving a book that I believe the majority of readers are unwilling to give up. Plus, Dick Cheney has one. They must be evil.

Now, I've never actually used ' or touched ' a Kindle, so I'd like to give our readers the floor:

Kindle users, tell us what you think. Was it worth the hefty price tag? How's readability? Do you still read books, or have you switched to a Kindle-exclusive lifestyle? What would you say to us stubborn curmudgeons who refuse to change our ways? (Duane, we're talking to you.)

Non-Kindlers, what say you? Is it the price that's holding you back, or is it something more?

Hit up the comments box below and let us know what you're thinking.

Kirstin

Posted 2009-03-19 13:32:16

I was an early adopter of the original Kindle and I ordered the K2 the day they made the pre-orders available. The Kindle is an amazing device that offers so much convenience that I have come to wonder how I ever lived without it.

To highlight some of my favorite reasons to own a Kindle:

Ease of portability. I can carry many books with me and it is still less than a pound and fits in my purse. I like to read more than one book at a time, one for pleasure and one or two for work can be going at any single time. I have them with me at all times so that no matter where I am and I have a few spare minutes to read, I can. This is especially true for traveling. It is nice to be able to tote everything that I want to read on the plane and while I am away from home without adding a lot of extra weight to my luggage or carry-on.

It is comfortable to hold and turning pages with a press of the button becomes second nature surprisingly fast. I can hold it with ease one handed and switch positions and angles easily. No more hand fatigue from holding a heavy hardback book for hours.

I can increase the font size of the text Iâ m reading when the book is really good but Iâ m really tired and Iâ m just not ready to put it down yet.

Sample feature has inspired me to â tryâ some books that I would not normally be drawn to read. Iâ m readying a wider variety of subjects and genres now.

Strangers canâ t see what Iâ m reading if Iâ m sitting in a coffee shop, airport or other public place. If Iâ m reading frivolous fluff as a guilty pleasure, no one knows but me. If Iâ m reading a book on politics that someone doesnâ t agree with, no one can heckle me for it. And if someone has already read the book Iâ m reading, no one can ruin the ending for me by telling me what happens.

I could keep going actually but I wonâ t. You get the idea, Iâ m sure.

The cost is an investment. I can deny that and I wonâ t even try. My way of justifying it though for myself was that I do read a lot and new releases in hardback are $25+ each. Downloading the same book to my Kindle in e format is only $9.99 in most cases - even paperback books have gotten close to $10 new and the same titles can be $5-7 on Kindle - and over time that will offset the cost up front to buy the Kindle. Gutenberg.org has a lot of free content, mostly old classics that are out of copyright but they can be downloaded to the Kindle as well and it has inspired me to go back and read some of the books Iâ d read in school.

It isnâ t perfect for all types of books though. Technical books with lots of diagrams are best left to paper version. Books with photographs such as travel guides are more useful in paper. The Bible is doable on Kindle but it is much easier to navigate to book/chapter/verse in the paper version.

There is something also that the Kindle can never do and that is the lazy Saturday afternoon that you wander into the bookstore to browse. I still love to explore the bookstore in search of a new book to enjoy. It is like an adventure or treasure hunt, the open question â what will I find today?â Some of the best books Iâ ve read have been picked on impulse from a browse through my bookstore.

Iâ ve found that the convenience and ease of use for the Kindle have been worth it for me and I am having a very rewarding relationship with my Kindle.

Fred

Posted 2009-03-19 14:37:12

I like the concept of the Kindle, but the cost of the device and the books are way too high.

Ten dollars for a book is too much considering they are not printing a real book. They are

not buying paper, ink or paying people to run the presses, etc. Also, you can't pass the

book along to someone else or donate it to the library's book sales.

mp lee

Posted 2009-03-19 22:30:43

i won't echo many of kirstin's points although i agree with all of them.

i was skeptical of the kindle at first, too. it was late last summer when i read a column by someone who had recently acquired a kindle and fell in love with it. i did some more research and found the same thing over and over. invariably they began 'i love the feel of books...an electronic device could never replace the senstation of turning pages, yada, yada, yada.' and they all ended with 'i love my kindle and i would never go back.'

i found a lot of opinions, too, that disparaged the kindle for one reason or another and often they, too, said 'i love the experience of reading a book.' the funny thing, though, is that none of those people had actually used a kindle. there seemed to be two camps amongst those who enjoy reading...those who had used a kindle and fell in love with it despite their prejudices...and those who prejudged without ever giving the device a chance. whose opinion would you listen to? i ordered a kindle and find myself reading more and more widely than i have in years.

my college roommate used to read two or three books at once. me, i was serially monogamist with one book at a time. now, however, the kindle keeps track of all my books in one place. currently i'm reading 'origin of species' in the mornings when i'm fresh and a techno-thriller in the evenings when i'm ready to unwind. in between times i'll catch up on an article or two in the atlantic.

in january i treated myself to an almost forgotten luxury of reading all day. i wanted to finish 'les miserables' by midnight. contrary to what you might think, hugo's words are entrancing whether you read them on paper or via e-ink on the kindle. i was pulled into the world of jean valjean, the medium was transparent.

if you want to keep an open mind i sincerely suggest you borrow a kindle from someone and give it a day or two. if you truly enjoy reading and not just turning pages i think you'll find it far superior that what you think. that is, if you can find someone willing to give theirs up for a day or two.

David

Posted 2009-03-20 06:52:04

I ordered my Kindle 2 at the pre-release stage and am very impressed with it. It is lightweight and feels good to hold. The keyboard buttons are a little too small for my liking but I can live with that. I buy alot of reference books and the Kindle will typically save me over $10 a book so it will pay for itself within two years for me. 



I like the ability to search and bookmark. There a lot of extras too like the new text to speech, mp3 player and mobile web browser. I find the Wispernet coverage better than my cell phone provider's coverage. Carrying a Kindle is a heck of a lot easier than carrying around 5-6 hardcover books.



I give the unit a B+ to A- but there is always room for improvement.

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